


Control

by PerriewinkleNerdie



Category: Open Heart (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 19:20:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20605979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerriewinkleNerdie/pseuds/PerriewinkleNerdie
Summary: Their relationship is a secret, and it takes all his resolve not to speak out about it.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello, hello!  
Another fic that got just a little too long :D We have a very educated Claire, and a very jealous Ethan.  
Enjoy! <3

Ethan was a man who liked control more than anything else. He liked to know what was happening around him. He loved to control his life, what he was doing with it, despite other people, their opinions, plans and ideas of what he should be.

He liked to control who he spent his time with, not that he was always able to do that but when it was his decision, he stayed away from people who would exhaust him, use him or manipulate him. Or, at least, he really tried. He couldn’t avoid Harper and her manipulations for obvious reasons.

He could control himself like no other, both his body and his mind. Remained calm when others would panic, put on a mask to hide his emotions, a blank slate for anyone from the outside.

There was this one part of his life that made him throw _all_ his control out the window. He didn’t choose to do that, it’s just the effect it has on him.

Claire.

Every time he is with her, he cannot seem to get a hold of himself, all of his resolve to act professionally just wasn’t there.

It started back when they weren’t dating. She would tease him to no end, smiles and little touches, comforting talks. It was the first time that he felt his control slip. It’s gone on for a few weeks, her teasing and him being more and more frustrated with his mind, imagining things he knows he shouldn’t be imagining.

Then, one day, he broke. They were talking in his office about the competition, Naveen and other interns when she absentmindedly bit her lip. That did it for him. He took three big steps towards her, gathered her in his arms and kissed her, hard. She was shocked but after a heartbeat he could feel her arms go around his neck, pulling him closer.

From that point on, they were seeing each other in secret. They both knew they couldn’t date publicly, no matter how much it hurt them both, he didn’t want to jeopardize her career and he didn’t want to lose her.

No one knew about them. That meant they would spend their evenings together, sometimes nights but not as often as he’d like, her living with other interns, they wanted to avoid them becoming suspicious and asking questions.

That also meant that other people didn’t know they were taken. While the only person who could cause trouble with him was Harper, her ways of persuasion with him getting on both of their nerves, Claire… that was an entirely different story.

He knew she was attractive as hell. He knew that damn well. So did she. And so did the rest of the male population.

He couldn’t really blame them. But that didn’t mean that he wasn’t annoyed when other men where shamelessly flirting with her. She was _his, _he knew that but that didn’t make him feel that much better.

Ethan tried not to envy other people, he was happy for others when they had what they did and he was aware that he only gets as much as he gives and as much as he works for. That being said, he couldn’t help but envy other couples, who could freely express their emotions, kiss their significant other whenever they liked, hold their hands or hug them with no fear of being exposed.

It was the worst kind of torture. He lost count of the amount of times that he passed her on the hall and had to endure the sight of her being hoarded by other men. Her friend, young surgeon, he believed Bryce was his name. Then there was this paramedic, Rafael. A kind young man, but all of his good traits were overshadowed by the fact that whenever he saw him, he was standing a little too close to Claire for his liking.

After a few of those encounters he realized that the feeling he got every time he saw her with another man was jealousy. He wondered how did he not realize it sooner. Well, he never was in a real relationship with anyone so he had no reason to be jealous. Harper was a fling, no matter how long, it wasn’t anything real.

He didn’t want to tell her about his feelings, deciding that she would laugh it off, think he’s silly. His only way of letting her know that something was different after every single one of those situations was the fact that in the evening, when they were together, he would be much more affectionate, pulling her a little closer, kissing her a little harder and hugging her a little longer. She did seem to notice something but never picked up the subject.

He was supposed to go to this important dinner organized by Banner Health with Harper. She did mention that they were taking one of the other doctors with them as they spoke French and there was supposed to be someone very important there that they needed to talk to that couldn’t speak English. He didn’t ask who they were taking with them, all that he knew was that they were going to meet them there.

He arrived ten minutes earlier and went in to find Harper. She was standing on the side of the room, dressed in a black, fitted dress that had a low cut, a little too low for what he thought was appropriate. She waited for him to approach her before speaking.

“She just called me, she’ll be here in a few minutes.”

He didn’t pay any attention to the fact that apparently the third doctor was a woman. He excused himself to go and look around, find some quiet place where he could hide and not have to talk with those full of themselves people. By the time he came back there was another woman standing next to Harper. She was dressed in a long, red dress, the material smooth and tight to the body, her hair pinned up elegantly. It slipped his mind that he did recognize her hair and her posture from somewhere. He approached them both and was about to say his greetings when the mysterious woman turned towards him, his eyes widened, pupils dilated, his heart skipping a beat.

“Hi, dr. Ramsey! Thanks for having me here!” Claire smiled at him, looking him straight in the eye. He dragged his gaze along her body, starting at the bottom where her shoes were visible, black high heels, then up her dress, a slit in the skirt reaching the middle of her thigh, then up her middle section, the material hugging her in all the right places making his mind go still. The dress had a low cut but it was tasteful and elegant without being provocative. He recognized the necklace she wore. It was a gift from him, a gold chain with a ruby red pendant. Her hair framing her face, almost no makeup on her face, a big smile and shiny eyes being all she needed to be the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

“We’re very happy you could be here tonight, I don’t know what we would do if you couldn’t make it. Again, thank you for helping us.” Harper smiled at her, totally oblivious to the look Ethan was giving Claire. She did it again. Aware or not, she got his attention, he knew he wouldn’t be able to think about anything else besides the things he wanted to do to her when they were alone…

“I’m glad I can help. So, what exactly are we doing?” she said, her fingers playing with her necklace as though teasing him. She knew damn well what she was doing to him and based on the look on her face, she wasn’t going to stop.

Harper explained a little of what exactly she wanted her to do and went to grab their person of interest. When she was out of earshot, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, his voice low and breathless.

“I know what you’re doing. Do you think it’s funny? You want her to find out about us?” he said, a chill running down her spine.

“Don’t know… do you?” she smirked.

“I have to say though, you look ravishing. How long have you known you’d be here with us?” his eyes taking in her body again.

“A few days… do you like the dress? I bought it especially with you in my mind.” she whispered the last part into his ear, then leaned back, biting her lip and looking him dead in the eye. He swore he died and went to heaven. Her back touched the wall the wall, he placed his arm next to her, leaning closer to her, flirting quietly with one another.

Harper came back a few minutes later, a middle-aged man in tow. They both stepped away from each other. Ethan reached out to greet the man, they shook hands. Then the man turned towards Claire and kissed her hand, greeting her politely. Claire just smiled. And then she began to talk.

Her French was perfect, accent amazing and smooth, her posture relaxed, clearly being comfortable. She turned towards Harper after a few minutes.

“I’m going to be translating. If you don’t mind, tell me what is it you want me to say and we’ll begin.” She smiled softly at her, her eyes straying towards Ethan for a second to gauge his reaction. She saw amazement on his face.

The talk was calm and quiet, both sides communicating with help from the young woman. After a few minutes they reached agreement. The older man took Claire’s hands in his and patted them, a warm smile on his face as he told her something he didn’t understand, what frustrated him more was the fact that he looked briefly at Harper, then at Ethan and back at Claire, smiling. She laughed, blushing, and responded with a sparkle in her eyes.

They bid him goodbye and made their way towards their table. Claire was sitting between Harper and Ethan.

“I cannot express enough how proud and thankful I am for your help. Without you the deal would never happened. You saved us today.” Harper said, turning towards her, smiling widely.

“No problem, really. I’m glad I got to help you, I’m sure the deal will go great. Plus, it was nice to get to speak in French, I don’t really get to do that that often.” She smiled equally happy. While Harper turned around to talk to some other people on the other side of the table, she turned to Ethan. He had an amused look in his eyes, a soft smile on his lips. His fingers touched her hand discreetly.

“I didn’t know you can speak French.”

“As a matter of fact, dr. Ramsey, I speak four languages.” She shot him a look, taking in his reaction. His eyebrows shot up, his mouth open wide. She touched his chin, closing his mouth softly.

“How… what…” he stuttered.

“Well, there is English, obviously. French, but you already know that. Then there is Spanish, I took it while being in high school. I also speak a little of German, I’m not tremendously good at it but I would be able to do a conversation much like the one today if I had to.”

“You amaze me every day more and more.” His voice low, leaning towards her. He caught himself before someone saw them. They got served their food and after dinner they all stood up to talk to some important people.

One of those people was Justin Brooke, a young executive, responsible for public relations in the company. He greeted Harper and Ethan with a shake of a hand. Then he moved to look at Claire. A smirk bloomed on his face, he took her hand and kissed it slowly.

“Charmed to meet you miss…?”

“Herondale.” Claire replied, not sure what she should do.

“Miss Herondale. It’s a pleasure to have you here, I hope you are enjoying yourself.” He took a step towards her.

Ethan felt it again. Jealousy lit up inside of him, his palms clenched, his knuckles white for the force. He hated not being able to do anything, the man wasn’t doing anything inappropriate to someone from the outside. How was he supposed to know that Claire was in a relationship, that she was already his, that she already had someone to hold her at night. He wished he could pull her close to him, put his hand on her waist and kiss her in front of Harper and the other man, making them both realize that they were out of their reach.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that. He was sentenced to the torture of watching the guy flirting with his woman. For hours on end he had to look at him putting his hand on her arm, talking with her and standing a little too close.

Finally he’s had enough. He excused himself and went towards the abandoned corridor in the far corner of the building he found earlier tonight. He fell against the wall, taking a deep breath, closing his eyes to calm himself. After a few minutes he heard steps coming towards him. He groaned quietly. He wanted to be alone for a moment but it looked like that was not happening. He raised his head to see who was disrupting his peace. He saw a beautiful figure of Claire.

_His_ Claire.


	2. II

She was standing there, her stance revealing she was uncertain what was going on.

“You okay?” she asked softly, worry taking over her face.

“Yeah…” he said quietly.

“I think you’re lying.” She stepped closer to him.

“Where is Justin?” he asked, jealousy lacing his voice. Her face lit up with understanding.

“_That’s_ what’s been bothering you?”

“He’s been all over you all night… I cannot say I’m too thrilled to see that.” He murmured under his breath, his head hanging low, avoiding her eyes.

“Ethan… hey, look at me” she put her hands on either side of his face, making him look at her. “Do you want to tell me what’s really going on? All of it?”

“I’m… jealous.” He said quietly, sadness and embarrassment in his eyes, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

“Of Justin?”

“Him too but… it’s so embarrassing.” He let out a breath.

“You know you can tell me. You can tell me anything.” She touched his cheek, his face nuzzled into it.

“I’m ashamed... I know I shouldn’t… but every time I see you with all those men, talking to you while standing _way_ too close to you, touching you, flirting with you… I feel so _helpless_. I want nothing more to get to you, grab you and kiss you in front of everybody so no one has any doubts that you’re mine and I’m yours… but I cannot do that. So I am damned with the pain of having to look at them, doing _exactly_ what I’d like to do to you, watching from the sidelines, unable to do anything.”

“Oh Ethan… why didn’t you tell me all of this. I thought you trusted me.” Her face fell, her hands limp at her sides. He took a step towards her, taking her hands in his own.

“I was ashamed, I didn’t want you to think I was controlling… don’t get me wrong, I like to keep control of my life, but you are not my property. You are not _anyone’s_ property. So I didn’t think it was okay for me to tell you what to do or who you can talk to and spend your time with…”

“Ethan. Look at me.” He raised his head, his eyes locking with hers. He saw admiration and happiness and… _love_ in her eyes. “What you said… it’s the sweetest and loveliest thing you could have said. But you are not right about everything. I’m so impressed with your way of thinking, no one has ever looked at me like that. But you _can, should… you must_ tell me when something is bothering you. I didn’t really notice anything happening with them because all I see is _you._ _You_ are the one I chose to be with, the one I long to spend my time with. Believe me, every time Harper touches you I want nothing more than to rip her arm out. It’s hard for me too, I want to be able to hug you, kiss you until you lose your breath for everyone to see. And we’ll get to do all those things one day. But for now, we have to endure it, so we can have a happy and stable future.” She smiled at him, her hands going around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, his fingers smoothing the material over her back. “Besides… it gives us plenty of time to this…” she touched her lips to his jaw, leaving a trail of little kisses down his neck, biting his earlobe. She heard him groan impatiently, his arms tightening around her.

He pressed her up against the wall, his lips connecting with hers, kissing her hungrily, hard and long, letting his hands wander all over her body. She bit his lip, tugging on it, drawing a low moan from him. His hands reached for her legs, pulling them around his waist, grounding himself into her.

“_You’re mine._” He groaned, kissing her neck, losing himself in her, breathing in her perfume, getting drunk on it. Her fingers tangling in his hair, tugging on it, hard.

A loud crash startled them both, breaking the kiss. Ethan moved to cover her with his body. He looked behind him to see a frightened, confused and embarrassed Justin, taking in them both, their position and current situation. His eyes went from Ethan to Claire, not understanding what was happening at first, then the realization dawned on him and he blushed.

“Something we can help you with?” Ethan asked, smirking at him, his hands still on Claire, not bothered by his interruption.

“N-no sir, I apologize for interrupting.” He stuttered, avoiding looking at them.

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again and we’ll be fine.”

“Y-yes. I’ll go now.”

“Excellent idea!” Ethan exclaimed, beaming with confidence.

Justin turned around and left in a hurry, not daring to look in their direction.

They looked at each other… then burst out laughing.

“Well… that was interesting.” Ethan said quietly, still holding her close to him. She turned his face towards her.

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” she saw a flicker of playfulness in his eyes.

“No. I didn’t. he interrupted my time alone with you, which normally would make me mad. But…” he trailed off.

‘But…?” she tried to get an answer out of him.

“… I can’t deny that I didn’t enjoy watching his face when he realized who we were and _what_ we were doing.”

“Did it make you feel better?” she smiled at him.

“Yes. Now he knows where he stands, I expect him to stay away.” Murmuring into her neck, leaving kisses on her neck, one of the straps of her dress _magically_ moving off of her shoulder. His lips moved towards the exposed skin, nipping at it slowly and carefully. After a while he looked up at her.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“About what?”

“My jealousy…”

“No. I’m glad we talked about it.” She kissed his cheek, smiling.

They hugged tightly, helped one another with making themselves presentable again before heading back towards the main room.

Claire looked at Ethan, now in full light. His cheeks were flushed, his lips bruised from kissing her, his hair a little disheveled.

Ethan sneaked a glance at Claire. He notices a small sign right at the edge of her dress where he kissed her neck, her hair was tousled, her lips bruised, probably as bruised as his, her face was a little pink.

They joined Harper back at the table, making a small talk with her about their patients and what the hospital could do for them. Justin was sitting in front of them, avoiding looking at them.

“Everything okay, Mr. Brooke?” Ethan asked, knowing full well what was wrong. That didn’t stop him from making the young man uncomfortable, happy that he wasn’t going to have to endure anymore of that torture. He was sure that Justin would keep his distance now. He felt a hand on his leg underneath the table. Claire leaned in to whisper.

“I forgot to tell you.”

“What is it?” he asked quietly, voice low, eyes locked with hers.

“_You’re so hot when you’re jealous”_ she smirked, then leaned back to talk to Harper. His brain has melted. He didn’t know how he was supposed to get through the rest of the night.

Fortunately for both of them, the night was coming to a close. Guest started leaving, eventually they were one of the few people left.

Ethan went to get their coats, helping Harper put hers on and then helping Claire with hers. He held her coat out for her, letting her arms slip into it, then covered her back with it, his fingers lingering on her neck. He felt her shiver in pleasure. He let her go before Harper noticed something.

He put his own coat on, finishing buttoning it up when he heard her voice.

“Dr. Ramsey… would you mind giving me a hand here?” he looked over to her to see what’s going on. She had her phone in one hand and her purse in the other, her coat still unfastened.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Could you do the buttons of my coat? I don’t have enough hands to do this.” She smiled. From the perspective of a stranger she was asking a simple favor from a friend, her smile friendly. But he knew better.

He was supposed to do the buttons but he was more than aware that she was _pushing his buttons_, wanting him to lose control, wanting a reaction from him.

He stepped closer and grabbed the lapels of her coat, bringing her closer to him. They looked into each other’s eyes, then he touched the first button, then another, making his way down her body.

They left the building, all three of them saying goodbye to the remaining guest. Harper turned towards them.

“Thank you both for a great evening. And thank you, Clarissa, for helping us with translating.”

“Once again, no problem, glad I could help.” She smiled at her boss. The woman bid them both goodbye and left, catching a taxi.

Once she was gone Ethan looked at Claire. His eyes said it all. He wanted to take her home and have his was with her. They were standing in front of the building, waiting for his car to be brought up. The evening was quite cold, her dress and coat didn’t provide as much heat as she would have liked. She started shivering, her arms going around her body to keep some of her body warmth.

Ethan noticed. He noticed everything about her. He took in her trembling form and got and idea. He unfastened his coat, pulled her closer and hugged her, closing the lapels of his coat around her.

His scent engulfed her, taking over her every thought. His cheek pressed against her head, his nose nuzzling her hair, breathing in her perfume.

The car pulled up. He opened the door for her, then went around the car, took the keys from the young man, paid him for his help and got in. when they got on the main road, his hand landed on her knee, squeezing it lightly, slowly moving up. She bit her lip, and placed her hand on his, locking their fingers together.

Then he remembered one little thing that has been in the back of his mind the whole evening.

“Claire… that man who spoke French… he said something, then looked at Harper, me and then you. what was that about?” curiosity peeking through his voice. She burst out laughing.

“First of all, it’s good that Harper doesn’t speak French.” She said, not revealing much.

“I’m serious, darling… what was it?”

“He said that he can see the way she’s looking at you.”

“And that made you laugh? If he said something like this regarding you and someone who is not me, I’d be furious.”

“You didn’t let me finish. Trust me, I wasn’t thrilled. But then he said something that made up for it.” She squeezed his hand, looking at him.

“Claire, if you don’t…”

“Impatient, aren’t we, dr. Ramsey?” she teased him. He let out a frustrated moan, smiling at her. “He told me that it doesn’t matter if she looks that way at you.”

“Why would he say that?”

“Because all you look at is _me._”

“Because all I see… all I _want _to see is _you._”

Her hand went to brush his hair away from his eyes, lingering there, caressing his face.

“Ethan?”

“Yes?”

“Next time you feel insecure or something feels not right… or something bothers that beautiful mind of yours… I want you to come to me. You know I am here. Whenever you need me.” She leaned in to kiss his cheek, his stubble tickling her.

“I know. Likewise, beautiful.” He smiled softly, looking over at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road ahead of them.

“I’m proud of you.”

“What…?” he was stunned, not sure where she was coming from.

“It takes a lot of courage to admit how you’re feeling. I know you find it hard to open up to anyone. I’m honored to be that person for you.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” He raised her hand to his lips, kissing it softly then pressing it against his face. He was content with his life, it didn’t matter that they had to wait a while longer to be together fully.

As long as she was by his side, he was the happiest man alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, hope you liked it <3  
-P


End file.
